A Shift to Purple

Friday

Jan 3, 2014 at 6:11 PM

Florida is about to Pass New York as the third largest state in the United States, meaning that Texas, California and Florida will be the big three. Not one of the original thirteen colonies in the bunch, and nary a state that felt a true impact from the American Revolution, the War of 1812 or the American Civil War. The news is tempered with other interesting data. The only reason why New York is treading water is because of an inflow of immigrants into New York which offsets losses upstate. Immigrants coming in tend to be more conservative. Democrats cut loose from their mooring in colder climates and resettled in warmer climates also loosen their connections to traditional political party affiliations. Many of the reddest parts of Texas and California are made up of former northeners, who tend to look at political candidates as locals and neighbors rather than the party of grandma and grandpa when Tammany helped them get established. Equally, Florida is seeing growth in its conservative sectors. The upshot is that Northern migrants become more politically independent, and more likely to be swayed by their neighbors. Meaning that not only is Florida becoming more deeply purple as its population grows, but New York is becoming more purple as its population fades. No one knows where the trend is heading, but this does bode poorly for Northern Democrats and Northern Republicans who think that a New York or New Jersey candidate any longer has sway in the country as a whole. Let’s face it–New England, New York and New Jersey are rushing headlong into political and cultural irrelevance, and we’ll either suck it up or have to consider taking our original beloved 13 states and going our own way.

Rob Meltzer

Florida is about to Pass New York as the third largest state in the United States, meaning that Texas, California and Florida will be the big three. Not one of the original thirteen colonies in the bunch, and nary a state that felt a true impact from the American Revolution, the War of 1812 or the American Civil War. The news is tempered with other interesting data. The only reason why New York is treading water is because of an inflow of immigrants into New York which offsets losses upstate. Immigrants coming in tend to be more conservative. Democrats cut loose from their mooring in colder climates and resettled in warmer climates also loosen their connections to traditional political party affiliations. Many of the reddest parts of Texas and California are made up of former northeners, who tend to look at political candidates as locals and neighbors rather than the party of grandma and grandpa when Tammany helped them get established. Equally, Florida is seeing growth in its conservative sectors. The upshot is that Northern migrants become more politically independent, and more likely to be swayed by their neighbors. Meaning that not only is Florida becoming more deeply purple as its population grows, but New York is becoming more purple as its population fades. No one knows where the trend is heading, but this does bode poorly for Northern Democrats and Northern Republicans who think that a New York or New Jersey candidate any longer has sway in the country as a whole. Let’s face it–New England, New York and New Jersey are rushing headlong into political and cultural irrelevance, and we’ll either suck it up or have to consider taking our original beloved 13 states and going our own way.